


Vos Autem Lux Inferos

by megastarstrike



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Fluff, M/M, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Supernatural Creatures, Valentine's Day, aka saihara is a demon and oma's an alien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 18:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17986733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megastarstrike/pseuds/megastarstrike
Summary: Different dimensions agreeing to collaborate with each other for the sake of research was not unheard of, especially when it concerned Earth's mortal plane. Shuuichi just wished he wasn't dragged into it with Kokichi Ouma of all creatures.





	Vos Autem Lux Inferos

**Author's Note:**

> written for the saiouma pit valentine's event with the lovely ava as my partner! and being published in march. dont question it.

As an official demon from the depths of Hell itself, Shuuichi was supposed to be a strong, dark creature incapable of feeling sympathy. He wasn’t supposed to be whimpering and getting misty-eyed over his separation from his friends, but here he was bawling his eyes out before he could even get on the highway.

“Come on, Shuuichi, life on Earth will be fun!” Kaede said, offering him a smile and patting him on the back. “And we can always use our notebooks to video call. As long as Kaito doesn’t fry the connection line again…”

Kaito scratched the back of his head sheepishly under the shadows of three glares. “Yeah, that won’t happen again.”

“It’s not like you won’t ever be seeing us again,” Maki said. She kicked his bag forward. “Your journal’s in there. Have fun on Earth.”

Despite her cold behavior, Shuuichi had to smile. He could see her clenched jaw and her fingers wrapping around her hair, something she never did unless she was having trouble expressing something. They all had good intentions, even if they had trouble showing it sometimes. They were demons, after all.

Shuuichi picked up his bag and gave them all a final hug. “Bye, everyone. I’ll call you when I get to the apartment.”

“Bye, Shuuichi!” Kaede and Kaito chorused, while Maki waved a forlorn goodbye.

Shuuichi stepped into the bus with his bag in one hand and the other demons pushing him to take a seat. He sat somewhere near the front of the bus and took out his assignment briefing while the bus drove down the highway to Earth, ignoring the pangs of loneliness he already felt.

 _Assigned to Shuuichi Saihara, Head of the Miscellaneous Circle.  
_ _Subject is to travel to the mortal plane to gather information on human society through observing their customs and traditions. Information must be written in the red notebook, which will be confiscated for analysis after return._  
_Hell has agreed to cooperate with Planet Panta to add to the Intergalactic Human Library. Pantaling Kokichi Ouma will collaborate with the subject for the year duration of the project._

Shuuichi put his briefing away with a sigh. It would be difficult enough to try assimilating into a culture he had little exposure to, much less adding a Pantaling into the mix. And there was no telling what kind of alien Kokichi would be…

 _Stop thinking that way,_ Shuuichi chided, _Remember what Kaito was saying about not being a coward?_

Ah, fuck it. There was too much for him to process.

So Shuuichi curled up into a ball and leaned against the window of the bus, shutting his eyes and hoping sleep would take him soon.

“... What are you doing?” the demon beside him asked.

“Pretending to sleep,” Shuuichi mumbled back.

“Ah. Heading to Earth?”

“Yeah.”

“Good luck.”

“Thank you. I’m gonna need it.”

 

* * *

 

Kokichi’s friends were assholes, through and through.

“Kyahaha! Look at this fucking jerkoff going to Earth,” Miu laughed, clutching her stomach. “Who the fuck gets assigned to Earth of all places?”

“Shut the fuck up, whore!” Kokichi shouted back. He smirked upon finally hearing silence, something he hadn’t heard since an hour ago, when he had broken the news to his friends that he was headed to Earth for an assignment. “Anyway, I’m headed to Earth for the Intergalactic Human Library. Just thought I’d tell you guys before you assume I got kidnapped or something.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Rantarou mused, swirling a silver straw in a container of green liquid.

“We never speak of that.”

“Gotcha.”

“What’s up with you Pantalings always running around tryna study humans?” Miu asked. “It’s not like they’re interesting or anything.”

“More interesting than you electricity benders,” Kokichi shot back, “Seriously, you could’ve chosen any power in the world, and you chose the lamest element? At least pick ground like Rantarou did.”

Rantarou chuckled nervously while Miu sputtered out weak defenses.

The two were from some planet in the outer arms of the Vortex Galaxy, the name of which both refused to disclose. They had met Kokichi during an assignment when they were to disguise themselves among the Pantalings for information. Kokichi had caught them before they could embarrass themselves too much and promptly asked two million questions about their planet. It was a rocky start to a friendship, but it became a friendship nonetheless.

Kokichi rolled his eyes at the sound of an obnoxious honk. “Guess I’m headed to Earth now. Bye, losers.”

“Call us when you land,” Rantarou said.

“And get me a guy’s dick as a souvenir!” Miu called after him.

Kokichi slammed the doors of the meeting hall behind him and jumped into the spaceship with a frown. He handed the driver two hundred of the planet’s currency and mumbled, “Take me to Earth.”

The driver accepted the task without so much as a glance.

 

* * *

 

Human apartments were too big. That was what Shuuichi decided when he walked into his apartment room (after a very awkward exchange between him and the receptionist), when he saw the living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms, all of which were large enough to house four rooms from Hell. The gray carpet underneath felt scratchy, like steel wool. A plastic green plant was placed on the windowsill, faker than the decorative fires Satan had insisted made the place feel more homey.

Shuuichi stepped into one of the bedrooms, sighing at the red walls and red carpet. As if he wasn’t already tired of the color red. And why was there a bed? Didn’t humans know demons didn’t have to sleep? They’ve had two hundred years to adjust to the discovery of otherwordly beings. It was infuriating.

Before Shuuichi could fume any longer, the front door clicked open. He poked his head out of the bedroom, only to see the figure close the door behind them.

The figure was a short, purple humanoid dressed in white fabrics, something humans were famous for creating. It had skin as purple as its eyes and purple tendrils of hair spiked upwards like antennas. It matched the profile for the Pantaling he was supposed to be working with perfectly.

Shuuichi cleared his throat and stepped out of the room fully. “You must be Kokichi Ouma. I’m Shuuichi Saihara, the demon you’ve been assigned to work with.”

“D-Demon?” the figure stuttered out, its eyes widening.

 _Ah, fuck, is that a human?_ “I-I’m sorry, I must have the wrong roo—”

“I’m just kidding,” the figure said, its previous horrified face being replaced with a smug smirk. It bared its teeth, a gesture Shuuichi recognized as grinning, and held out a hand. “I’m Kokichi Ouma, certified Pantaling and balloon maker.”

Shuuichi stared at the hand.

“... You’re supposed to shake it. You know, since we’re on Earth. Humans do this.”

“O-Oh, right.” Shuuichi took the hand with a firm grip and shook it. Yet as he maintained eye contact with the third eye on Kokichi’s forehead and tried to ignore the electricity cracking from his hair (okay, they were definitely antennas), he had the feeling this mission would not end well.

 

* * *

 

The first time Shuuichi stepped into a grocery store, he walked right back out.

Kokichi caught his arm before he could completely walk outside the store and regarded him with an almost amused smirk. “Come on, Shuuichi, this is your job.”

“Is it too late to quit now?” Shuuichi mumbled. Nevertheless, he was dragged further into the grocery store, where he and Kokichi stood in front of a stand filled with orange spheres. He took out his red notebook and began to write down a description of it.

Kokichi raised an eyebrow at him as he raised a scanner to hover over the orange spheres. “Shuuichi, what are you doing? Are you seriously so old-fashioned you use a feather and quill to write stuff down? The humans are staring.”

Shuuichi whipped around, only to see Kokichi wasn’t lying. He addressed the staring humans with a snarl and narrowed eyes, and they turned back around to their carts. “Hell may be a bit old-fashioned, but it’s not like your scanner’s any better. How are you even supposed to operate that?”

“I don’t know. I just point at stuff and hit a button.” He hovered the scanner over another object, this time a pile of round, denser brown objects.

It was exceedingly obvious he was lying about not knowing how the technology worked, but Shuuichi decided he would let it go for now. He stopped writing in the middle of an entry of a plastic case of green leaves.

“Wait,” Shuuichi called, “Do you think our superiors want us to get… _all_ the information out of these?”

Kokichi turned to him with a tilted head. “What do you mean?”

“As in… you can’t exactly know much information just from looking at something and scanning it. There needs to be an experimental component in it, too.”

Kokichi stood frozen. Right before Shuuichi opened his mouth to apologize for even suggesting such a thing, he began piling one of everything into the cart.

After hours of arguing over where to draw distinctions between items and ignoring the confused stares the two received, they had finally gone back home to complete their data entries for each of the items.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Shuuichi asked, holding a piece of a floppy, brown substance near his mouth. “And do you know which chemicals are in everything?”

Kokichi rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I do. Thanks for worrying, _Mom._ ”

“Just making sure.”

Kokichi analyzed the texture of a thin, brown square half the size of his palm before taking a bite out of it. He chewed, his eyebrows furrowed before he eventually swallowed the sample.

“Well?” Shuuichi prompted.

“It tastes amazing! It’s like… like…” Kokichi’s lie fell apart, and his lips tugged down into a frown. “I don’t know. This is the first human thing I’ve tasted, and it’s not even that good. My friend told me crackers are super popular, but…”

Shuuichi took a cracker out of the box Kokichi had opened. He wrote down details about the texture and smell before popping it into his mouth. His eyebrows furrowed. “It’s salty. Are you telling me you can’t taste salty things?”

Silence.

“Kokichi.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“So if you can’t taste salty things…” Shuuichi dug around their pile of groceries and pulled out an orange. “Can you taste sweet things?”

Kokichi took the orange from him with a snort. “What are you, a human? How do you know all this?”

“You know my dimension is directly under Earth, right? I might not know all the inventions humans have been getting up to, but I’m familiar with nature.”

“Whatever.” Kokichi took a bite straight out of the orange and dropped it with a wrinkled nose. “Ew! That wasn’t sweet at all!”

Shuuichi closed his eyes. If he survived through this series of recording human foods, he could survive anything. “You’re supposed to peel it first.”

“Huh?”

Shuuichi took the orange and carefully peeled it. He peeled a section of the naked orange before handing it to him. “Here, try this instead.”

Kokichi gave him a dubious look but took the tiny slice anyway and took an experimental nibble. Once he determined Shuuichi wasn’t lying, he popped it into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

“How does it taste?”

Kokichi paused. He snatched the orange out of Shuuichi’s hand and peeled off more slices.

Shuuichi smiled. “Ah, so you like sweet things.”

“Must be why I don’t like you.”

“Well, that’s rude.”

“That was a lie,” Kokichi said upon scarfing down the last orange slice. He stared at the peel in his hands. “What do I do with this?”

Shuuichi gingerly took the peel and tossed it in the trash can next to them. “You don’t eat it, that’s for sure.”

“Okay, listen—”

“There’s four more basic flavor profiles on Earth: spicy, bitter, sour, and umami.”

“Umami?"

“Yes.”

“Are you telling me one of my friends is a flavor?”

“Er… maybe? Listen, the important thing is we record everything.”

“Wait.” Kokichi stared into the pile of food before him. “Is that…”

“What?”

He leaned forward and grabbed a purple can. His eyes were fixed on the label that read “Grape Panta.”

Shuuichi didn’t know what humans had been up to for the past few centuries, but perhaps that might have been for the better.

“Grape Panta. They turned me into a soft drink. I can’t believe this.”

Alarms rang in Shuuichi’s head at the first sight of tears building up in Kokichi’s eyes. “W-Wait, Kokichi, it’s probably just a coincidence! The can says the company was founded before the Pantalings discovered humans, s-so… I don’t think it’s really made out of you.”

Kokichi’s face blanked. The tears were gone as fast as they came, and he locked eyes with him. “Shuuichi. I’m not stupid. I was joking.”

“... Oh.”

Something in Kokichi’s voice changed, something Shuuichi couldn’t quite pin down. “You really cared that much about little old me?”

“Yes…? Of course I do. You’re my partner.”

Kokichi continued staring at him with an unnervingly blank face before breaking into a grin and taking a sip from the can. “Nishishi! You’re so stupid, Shuuichi. My planet has a signed agreement with Earth to bring a bulk of this every Earth year. I know what it tastes like.”

Shuuichi smiled, deciding to play along. “Yeah? What does it taste like?”

“It tastes like… like…”

Shuuichi supposed it would be hard to convey a flavor that had no direct translation in Earth languages or maybe didn’t even exist at all. Still, he giggled into his hand as Kokichi choked on the bitterness of black coffee and puckered his face at the sourness of lemons.

He quickly decided Kokichi’s smiling face was his favorite.

 

* * *

 

Human sources of recreation were strange. Kokichi’s sources of recreation were stranger.

“So this is… a video game?”

“Yup!” Kokichi answered cheerfully as he plopped a controller down in Shuuichi’s lap. His gaze was fixed on the television screen ahead of them, smiling at the abundance of colors dancing in his vision. “Humans always get the colors just right.” He turned to see Shuuichi’s dumbfounded face and frowned. “What? When’s the last time you actually came out to Earth?”

That made Shuuichi think. He went searching through his archive of memories. “Um… I was last summoned by a man in Italy at around the beginning of the Renaissance, so… one thousand Earth years ago?”

“One thousand Earth years?”

Shuuichi’s face flushed upon hearing his laughter. “H-Hey, it’s not funny! Anyway, just tell me how to operate this?”

Kokichi laughed once more and shook his head. “Oh, Shuuichi, you’re so innocent. You really think I know how to play this game either? Some human with pink hair just recommended it to me when I went to the conglomeration of stores.”

“... You mean the mall?”

“Whatever. Let’s just get started.”

It took less than five minutes for Kokichi to figure out a way to break the game.

“Oh my lord, Kokichi, please just put the wires down,” Shuuichi groaned, holding his palm against his forehead.

Kokichi scoffed as he mixed and matched the wires inside the electronic console. “I know what I’m doing. Trust me, I—”

The screen went black. Controller input had no effect on the screen.

“... Well, that didn’t go as well as I thought it would.”

“Kokichi,” Shuuichi called, “Are you actually a specialist in human technologies?”

“Pff, no, that was a lie. And an obvious one at that. Really, I’m surprised you didn’t notice sooner.”

“I thought so. You’re a naturally curious, uh…”

Kokichi’s lips curved up into an amused smirk. “Did you almost say person?”

“I almost said person.”

“Nishishi! You’re actually the worst, Shuuichi.” Kokichi smiled at him with an awfully fond, sickeningly sweet smile that made Shuuichi’s heart stop. “Just kidding! You wanna go write what happened down in your handy dandy notebook?”

Oh, right. Shuuichi had almost forgotten about that.

Shuuichi opened his notebook to the correct page and scribbled in it with the pen Kokichi had given him a couple weeks ago. His grip was firm around the pen, and he found himself smiling at the blue and purple stripes running down it.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Shuuichi,” Kokichi called, the tip of his tongue sticking out as he stared at a human seated at a chess board. “Pantalings can intercept human thoughts. How many people do you think I can win against?”

Shuuichi grabbed his hand and directed him to the opposite direction.

 

* * *

 

“Why’s your skin so hot?”

“Well, when you’ve been around oceans of fire for centuries…”

“Ah.”

 

* * *

 

Shuuichi managed to just grab onto Kokichi before he went plummeting to the ground. “Kokichi, are you alright? You almost tripped over that rock.”

“Fine. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Kokichi’s skin burned purple in embarrassment, and he walked quicker.

Shuuichi followed, barely hiding an amused smile.

 

* * *

 

Shuuichi squinted at the text of a book, flipping to the back of it and holding the cover close to his face. “Kokichi, can you read French?”

“Nope. I can read Yeogurian, though.”

“... Oh.”

“I was kidding. Here, give it to me.” Kokichi snatched the book out of his hands and scanned the cover. “It’s a book about sixteen kids trapped in a school together… whatever that is. Is this the kind of book that interests you? Murder mysteries?”

“Uh… maybe?”

“And why can’t you read French? You’ve had so much time to learn—”

“If you think modern French and earlier forms of French are the same, you are very sorely mistaken,” Shuuichi snarled, his eyes flashing red.

Kokichi held his hands up in a universal sign of surrender. “Wow, okay. I get it, jeez.”

Shuuichi blinked before scrambling to put the book back on the shelf. “I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine. It was just surprising. It’s not every day you see a cute, cuddly demon suddenly turn into a scary demon.”

Shuuichi sighed and picked up a book written in Latin. “Yeah, yeah. Still, I’m sorry for surprising you like that. And I can speak and read Latin fluently, if you must know.”

Kokichi’s eyes sparkled, and he asked Shuuichi to say something in Latin. And as Shuuichi complied, the full meaning of what Kokichi had just said sank in.

_Wait… he thinks I’m cute and cuddly?_

 

* * *

 

Winter in this part of Earth was a huge obstacle, even for the humans who had lived in the area all their lives. It was even tougher on Kokichi, whose planet never fell below ten degrees celsius at its absolute minimum.

On the other hand, Shuuichi’s body radiated intense amounts of heat in the cold, keeping his internal body temperature stable. All he could do was watch helplessly as Kokichi shivered below every blanket they had in the apartment.

“Can… Can I help you with anything?” Shuuichi asked. His heart fell at the lack of response.

They had already put every warm bit of fabric on top of him and dressed him in winter clothes that made him look as puffy as a marshmallow. Shuuichi had tried boiling water for Kokichi to drink, but to no avail. What else could he do?

_… Ah, Hell, this is gonna be awkward._

“Kokichi,” Shuuichi called, “I’m going to lie down next to you. Is that okay?”

“I don’t care,” Kokichi managed to chatter out.

Kokichi was telling the truth. That was alarming.

Shuuichi crawled into the bed with him and wrapped his arms around Kokichi. _His internal temperature is reaching critical levels… If I keep at this, it should stabilize in—oh, wait, it’s stabilizing._

The color returned to Kokichi’s cheeks. His eyes opened one by one until all three were locked right on Shuuichi. The painful expression on his face was replaced with a blank face and pursed lips.

“Shuuichi,” Kokichi called.

“Yes?”

“I guess you could say you’re… really hot.”

Shuuichi never wanted to slap a dozen curses on Kokichi more than he did in this very moment.

Kokichi burst into a round of giggles before flipping over and nuzzling his head into Shuuichi’s chest, seemingly ignorant of the crisis Shuuichi suddenly found himself in. “Goodnight…” And with that, he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

“Wait… you don’t even need sleep.”

“Killjoy. A Pantaling can pretend.”

Shuuichi swallowed the ball clumping in his throat and tried to calm his heart. “Would you like me to pretend with you?”

Kokichi’s throat buzzed, and he nestled closer. That was a yes, at least according to Shuuichi’s research.

So Shuuichi pulled him closer and rested his eyes, smiling at the first warmth he had that didn’t originate from flames.

 

* * *

 

“Shuuichi! Shuuichi! We missed you!”

Shuuichi smiled, watching the three familiar faces in his notebook move like living pictures. “You’ve said that for the fourth time now, Kaede…”

“Ah, well, we did. How’s everything on Earth?”

“It sure is… Earth all right.”

“Come on, Shuuichi, stop being vague,” Kaito said, to which Maki nodded in agreement. “You look like you have something you wanna say.”

_Ah, shit._

Before they could pry the answer out of Shuuichi, Kokichi slammed the door to his room open with a yawn. He sat on the bed next to Shuuichi and rested his head on Shuuichi’s shoulder. “Shuuichiiii, where did I put the Panta again?”

Shuuichi gave him a fond smile. The effects of a Pantaling drinking just one shot of human beer were humorous, to say the least. Kokichi had been stumbling around and cuddling everything in sight (including him at times) for at least five hours now. “You only ever put it in one place, Kokichi. It’s probably in the refrigerator.”

“... Shuuichi, you’re a genius. I owe you my life.” Kokichi nuzzled him one last time before stumbling out of the room.

“I told him it wasn’t a good idea to drink human alcoholic beverages,” Shuuichi mumbled to himself. He returned to the notebook, only to see three bewildered faces staring back at him. “What?”

“Bro…” Kaito whispered. “Broooo! What the hell was that?”

“That’s my partner for this assignment, Kokichi Ouma. He’s a Pantaling.”

“No, I meant—”

“Ugh, I hate Pantalings,” Maki mumbled, twisting her hair. “I never really forgave them after the holy water incident. Be careful around them, Shuuichi, you never know what they might do.”

Shuuichi’s face fell. “B-But I think—”

He was cut off by Kaede finally processing the situation and responding to it with a hellish scream. Her eyes sparkled, and her smile was wider than he had ever seen. “Shuuichi! You didn’t tell us you had a crush!”

“A… A what?”

“A crush!” Kaede took a moment to compose herself, but there was no hiding the pure joy shining in her eyes. “I was talking to one of the humans down here the other day, and he mentioned something about having a crush on one of the other humans here. I asked him what he meant by that, and he said it was having a strong infatuation for someone. When I asked him what he meant by _that,_ he said it was like being in love. You—” She pointed an accusing finger at him. “—Shuuichi Saihara, have a crush on Kokichi Ouma.”

The others seemed just as stunned by the revelation as Shuuichi did.

“Wait, Kaede, are you really sure?” Kaito asked.

“Well, we’ll just have to make sure.” Kaede cleared her throat. “What do you feel around Kokichi?”

Shuuichi had to pause to think. He had never actually taken a moment to actually consider his feelings before. “Um… I feel really warm around him, if that makes sense. And my heart beats really quickly when he smiles. His smile is really nice. I, uh, I also kind of overheat when he hugs me? But that’s really the extent of it.”

“Okay… What’s your favorite thing to do with him?”

“... Anything. He always makes everything so fun.” Shuuichi could feel his lips melting into a warm smile. “And—And I know Pantalings lie a lot, but… it’s kind of fun trying to figure out if what he’s saying is a lie or not. I don’t know, he just makes me happy.”

Kaede gave him a soft smile. “Shuuichi. You’re in love.”

The serene expression on his face slipped off in favor of a more panicked one. His heart stopped. He couldn’t be in love with Kokichi. It wasn’t possible.

“But—But he’s not a demon, and I’m not a Pantaling,” Shuuichi said.

Kaito seemed to have caught on quickly with what Kaede had seen before anyone else had. “Bro, it’s almost the 3000s. You really think people give a fuck anymore?”

“But we live five thousand light years away from each other!”

“That only means your planets are that far away from each other,” Kaede said, “And five thousand light years isn’t really that far when you think about it.”

Shuuichi continued raising objections in his thoughts, only to find they weren’t ground in reality. Every excuse he had given for him not being in love with Kokichi was met with contrary evidence. He scrunched his eyes shut and sighed. “Fine, fine, I… may or may not be in love with my partner.” He paused to allow Kaede and Kaito to cheer. “But what’s the point if he doesn’t like me back anyway?”

The cheers stopped.

Kaede’s eyebrows furrowed. “What makes you think that? He was obviously showing at least some interest in you from what I’ve seen.”

“Pantalings communicate through physical touch and if they can’t, they communicate through antennas. That’s probably just him being himself.” Shuuichi ignored Kaito’s whistle and comment about thorough research in favor of sulking on his bed. He had read so many texts and poems from humans who had fallen trap into the same thing he did. He could testify that love was as painful as it was described to be.

“Hey,” Kaito said, “You never know until you try. What’s the harm in it?”

“He could be weirded out and never speak to me for the next ten centuries.”

“Shuuichi.”

Maki finally released her grip on her hair with a sigh. “You know, Shuuichi, there’s this tradition on Earth where on the fourteenth of February, you give your lover a gift, go on a date, destroy a planet together, or something that shows you love them. It’s called Valentine’s Day.”

The tension in Shuuichi’s shoulders disappeared at the subtle approval from Maki. “What’s some common gifts? And what’s a date?”

“I heard chocolate or flowers are classic gifts. And I’m not entirely sure what a date is, but I can consult one of the humans for you.”

Chocolate. Kokichi liked sweets.

“Alright. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t.”

“Well, now that that’s sorted out,” Kaede said, “Tell me about Earth! It’s been a while since I’ve visited.”

It wasn’t as smooth of a transition as Kaede probably hoped it would be, but Shuuichi appreciated it nonetheless. He read out some of his data bank entries and told them tales of unexpected parts of living on Earth (“Did you know they have humans who study humans? It’s weird”). In return, he received news on what had happened in Hell while he was gone (“I tried bringing a telescope down with me, but I forgot we couldn’t see the sky from here. Bummer”).

When he retired that night, Shuuichi took a look at the date, shifted his gaze to his notebook, then decided what he had to do.

 

* * *

 

Shuuichi’s entire body was quaking, and he wanted to do nothing more than to run away back to Hell and never go up to the surface ever again.

The Kitsune who had rung up the box of chocolates he bought gave him a sharp-toothed smile. “Never fear, demon. Everything will turn out as it is meant to.”

As unsettling as the smile was, he returned it and expressed appreciation for their advice. He took a giant leap into the sky, his horns cutting through air as he traveled back to his apartment.

That gave him plenty of time to think about what his next actions would be. What was he supposed to do, just hand the box of chocolates to him and say “Happy Valentine’s Day”? Or should he make a heartfelt speech beforehand? Or just go in for a kiss like he had witnessed so many other humans doing on this day? Why was this so complicated?

Soon enough, Shuuichi had arrived at the door to his apartment. He took a deep breath before unlocking the door and opening it, only to find a disaster inside. Bits of chocolate ganache had been sprayed all over the tiles of the kitchen floor, and melted plastic molds were “hidden” inside the trash can. Chocolate wrappers were littered over the counters. The only saving grace was the basket of strawberries sitting next to the sink, freshly washed and ready to be consumed.

“Kokichi?” Shuuichi called out.

Kokichi, who had been standing on a stack of books and washing his fingers under the sink, froze. He slowly turned towards him with an obviously forced smile. “Shuuichi. You’re home earlier than I thought you would be.”

“What’s all of this?”

“It’s a birthday present for my friends back home, obviously! A lot of them share the same birthday, you know. We’re freaky like that.”

“But… you don’t celebrate birthdays.”

“Hey, gotta bring some Earth traditions back with me.”

“Kokichi, just please tell me the truth.”

The smile slipped off Kokichi’s face. His hair tendrils moved to cover his face, but the purple glowing from the tips of his antennas betrayed his embarrassment. “Fine… you know what Valentine’s Day is, right?”

“Yes?”

“Well, the human in the movie theater told me you were supposed to give something to the person you love or take them out on a date or just spend time together. We already spend a lot of time together and I didn’t know what a date was, so I figured I should try giving something to you. I asked another human at the park with two canines what I should give someone on Valentine’s Day, and they suggested chocolate. But I wanted to make it interesting, so I tried dipping strawberries in chocolate.” Kokichi gestured towards the mess around him. “I know I’m a galaxy-class chef, but you can see how well that turned out.”

Shuuichi took a moment to process what Kokichi had just said before he caught onto one particular part. His heart stopped. “Wait… you love me?”

Kokichi froze. He stared at Shuuichi with panic flashing in his eyes before slowly laughing. “Ni… Nishishi. Fell for one of my lies again, huh? You’re so stupid, Shuui—”

Shuuichi rushed forward and held Kokichi’s face, brushing his thumb against his cheek. It was the clearest form of presenting romantic attraction that had been made in the Panta language. He met Kokichi’s widened eyes with a soft smile and held out the box of chocolates to him. “I was planning the same thing. I mean, I don’t know how to operate most of the devices in the kitchen, so I just went out and bought something. I hope that’s okay.”

Kokichi continued staring before frowning and pushing Shuuichi away with tears in his eyes. “Shuuichiiii! You’re so mean!”

Shuuichi reeled at the sudden mood whiplash. “Wh-What?”

“I was gonna make these chocolate strawberries for you, wrap them in a cute little basket, and ask you to be my lover, but _no,_ you just had to go and ruin it. I even learned a bit of Latin for you! I was gonna say ‘Te amo,’ and it was gonna be great.” Kokichi puffed his cheeks out and crossed his arms. “Thanks a lot, Shuuichi.”

Shuuichi’s lips curled up into an amused smile. “You know… you can just say it now, right?”

“What?"

“The ‘te amo’ part. I would… I would really like to hear it.”

Kokichi sighed. “Te amo.”

“That’s better.” Shuuichi paused, uncertainty gnawing at his stomach. “Hey, Kokichi? Can I try something? I saw the humans doing it, and I thought…”

Kokichi paused before nodding quickly and shutting his eyes.

Shuuichi fought through ten layers of insecurity and doubt, and he still couldn’t bring himself to execute what he had been planning.

_Come on, Shuuichi, you know he loves you, too. And he agreed to this. Just go for it!_

Shuuichi took a deep breath before leaning forward and pressing a light kiss against Kokichi’s forehead. He moved away slowly, as if any sudden movement would scare the other. “Was… Was that okay?”

Kokichi opened his eyes and gave him a soft smile. “Yes. And that’s not a lie.”

 

* * *

 

Their expedition on Earth had come to an end. Kokichi and Shuuichi stood by the highway to Hell together, hand in hand as they waited for the bus.

“Have fun in Hell,” Kokichi said with a smile. “Be sure to tell your friends all about me, okay? I’m a memory wiper. You might lose your memories of me if you don’t talk about me.”

Shuuichi sighed. “Kokichi, I know that won’t happen. Besides, I can contact you at any time. I won’t forget about you.”

“... Promise?”

“I promise. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

And with that, the bus came screeching to a half next to Shuuichi. Shuuichi gave Kokichi one last peck on the forehead before reluctantly waving goodbye and boarding the bus. He sat on the other side of the bus and stared out the window, afraid that if he looked into Kokichi’s sad eyes again, he would never be able to tear himself away.

The bus departed. From the window, Shuuichi could make out the image of a white rocket hurtling towards the bus stop.

_Ah. That must be Kokichi’s ride._

While Shuuichi knew he would enjoy his time back in Hell, it wouldn’t be the same without Kokichi by his side. Still, they would make it work. He knew they would.

Shuuichi took out his notebook, flipping through the pages. His eyebrows furrowed at an entry he didn’t remember writing.

 _Assigned to Shuuichi Saihara, Head of the Miscellaneous Circle.  
_ _Subject is to travel the Vortex Galaxy and collect data on every planet within the galaxy. Geological samples and interactions with creatures should be recorded in the red notebook, which will be confiscated for analysis after return._  
_Hell has agreed to cooperate with Planet Panta to add to the Intergalactic Human Library. Pantaling Kokichi Ouma will collaborate with the subject for the twenty year duration of the project._

Shuuichi’s heart leaped. If he didn’t know who he was surrounded by, he would have jumped for joy and screamed his gratefulness. He flipped to another page in his notebook.

Film of Kokichi riding a rocketship played on the notebook. Kokichi smirked. “You saw the new assignment?”

Shuuichi couldn’t help but grin. “Yes. I saw it right after I boarded the bus.”

“Well? Are you ready to plan another trip, my beloved demon?”

“With you? Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> hey. So this will probably be my last fic in this fandom. Maybe not since this series especially somehow manages to keep me drifting back to it. It's been a long five years spent off and on in this fandom, I can't tell the future.
> 
> While I won't be writing or reading much danganronpa in the near future, you can always contact me on discord megastarstrike#4571 or my tumblr of the same username. If you want to talk about danganronpa, writing, fanfiction, want me to beta something, have any questions about my writing, or just want to make conversation, feel free to do so! Thank you for consistently supporting me over these years. These have been the best times of my life.


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